Income Taxes (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2016

Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]

Components of Income Tax Expense (Benefit)

Components of current and deferred income tax expense (benefit) are as follows ($000’s omitted):

	2016			2015		2014
Current expense (benefit)
Federal	$	9,464		$	8,760	$	5,619
State and other	(13,104		)	1,474		(13,968		)
	$	(3,640	)	$	10,234	$	(8,349	)
Deferred expense (benefit)
Federal	$	312,288		$	277,895	$	232,969
State and other	22,499			33,804		(9,200		)
	$	334,787		$	311,699	$	223,769
Income tax expense (benefit)	$	331,147		$	321,933	$	215,420

Effective Income Tax Rate Reconciliation

The following table reconciles the statutory federal income tax rate to the effective income tax rate:

	2016		2015		2014
Income taxes at federal statutory rate	35.0	%	35.0	%	35.0	%
State and local income taxes, net of federal tax	3.3		2.8		3.0
Deferred tax asset valuation allowance	(2.2	)	0.4		(6.6	)
Tax contingencies	(1.3	)	0.1		(1.4	)
Other	0.7		1.2		1.2
Effective rate	35.5	%	39.5	%	31.2	%

Deferred Tax Assets and Liabilities

Components of our net deferred tax asset are as follows ($000’s omitted):

	At December 31,
	2016			2015
Deferred tax assets:
Accrued insurance	$	220,823		$	237,836
Non-deductible reserves and other	140,987			155,488
Inventory valuation reserves	359,964			476,673
Net operating loss ("NOL") carryforwards:
Federal	187,817			367,302
State	224,316			274,686
Alternative minimum tax credit carryforwards	53,917			44,161
Energy and other credit carryforwards	45,673			28,669
	1,233,497			1,584,815
Deferred tax liabilities:
Capitalized items, including real estate basis differences,       deducted for tax, net	(82,445		)	(39,220		)
Trademarks and tradenames	(36,781		)	(41,664		)
	(119,226		)	(80,884		)
Valuation allowance	(64,863		)	(109,052		)
Net deferred tax asset	$	1,049,408		$	1,394,879

Summary of Income Tax Contingencies

A reconciliation of the change in the unrecognized tax benefits is as follows ($000’s omitted):

	2016			2015		2014
Unrecognized tax benefits, beginning of period	$	38,992		$	32,911	$	173,310
Increases related to tax positions taken during a prior period	224			5,763		—
Decreases related to tax positions taken during a prior period	(13,218		)	—		(133,883		)
Increases related to tax positions taken during the current        period	114			318		237
Decreases related to settlements with taxing authorities	(707		)	—		(6,753		)
Reductions as a result of a lapse of the applicable statute of        limitations	(3,903		)	—		—
Unrecognized tax benefits, end of period	$	21,502		$	38,992	$	32,911